One of the few countries in Africa to retain its political independence through the colonial era, Liberia has often been excluded from comparative studies in African and global economic history owing to a lack of data on trade, public finance or economic output. The data presented here represent the first annual series of data derived from archival sources on key indicators of Liberia’s economic and political development from its foundation as an independent state in 1847 until 1980.
When using the data, or for more information on the calculation of the estimates, please refer to Leigh Gardner, Sovereignty without Power: Liberia in the Age of Empires, 1822-1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Sovereignty without Power – Liberia economic history database